Speech biofeedback on Google Glass for people with neuromotor speech impairments

Individuals with neuromotor speech disorders due to conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson Disease and Cerebral Palsy have soft and slurred speech. These individuals require intervention to increase vocal loudness and to reduce speech rate. Traditional therapy is successful in a clinical setting but does not readily generalizable to daily conversations. Technological innovations may help address the need for in-the-moment feedback. In previous work, we developed SpeechOmeter, a Google Glass application that allows users to monitor and increase their vocal loudness by providing visual feedback in real time. To incorporate speech rate feedback in the visual design, we modeled a set of user interface designs that simultaneously provide feedback about vocal loudness and speech rate. We then evaluated the efficacy and efficiency of these different designs and discovered a set of rules that may help to create unobtrusive visual feedback on small displays for individuals with cognitive and visual symptoms associated with neuromotor speech disorders.